MooNEY] DE SOTo's ROUTE 197 



aliouf fifty feet wiile at the l)asp and narrowing frradually to tlie top. Had tliis l)een 

 the mound of tlie narrative it is hardly jHWsilile tliat the ehronieler would have failed 

 to notice also the two other mounds of the group or the other one on the oi)posite 

 side of the river, eaeh of these heing from twenty to twenty-five feet in height, to say 

 nothing of the great diteh a ouarter of a mile in length which encircles the group. 

 Moreover, Cartersville is at some distance from the mountains, and the Etowah river 

 at this point does not answer the description of a small rushing mountain stream. 

 There is no considerable mound at Coosawatee or in any of the three counties 

 adjoining. 



Tlie Xacoochee mound has been cleared and cultivated for many years and does 

 not now show any appearance of a roadway up the side, hut from its great height 

 we may be reasonably sure that some such means of easy ascent existed in ancient 

 tinie.s. In other respects it is the only mound in the whole upper country which 

 fills the conditions. The valley is one of the most fertile spots in Georgia and 

 numerous ancient remains give evidence that it was a favorite center of settlement in 

 early days. At the beginning of the modern hi.storic period it was held by the 

 Cherokee, who had there a town called Nacoochee, but their claim was disputed by 

 the Creeks. The Gentleman of Elvas states that Guaxule was .subject to the queen 

 of Cotitachiqui, but this may mean only that the people of the two towns or tribes 

 were in friendly alliance. The modern name is pronounced ya(/iit.<<T by the Chero- 

 kee, who say, however, that it is not of their language. The terminal may be the 

 Creek ndshi, "small," or it may have a connection with the name of the Uchee 

 Indians. 



From Guaxule the Spaniards advanced to Canasoga (Ranjel) or Canasagua (Elvas), 

 one or two daj's' march from Guaxule, according to one or the other authority. 

 Garcilaso and Biedma do not mention the name. As Garcilaso states that from 

 Guaxule to Chiaha the march was down the bank of the same river, which we 

 identify with the Chattahoochee, the town may have been in the neighborhood of 

 the present (iainesville. As we have seen, however, it is unsafe to trust the e.stiiuates 

 of distance. Arguing from the name, Meek infers that the town was al)OUt Cona- 

 sanga river in Murray (-(junty, and that the river down which they marched to reach 

 it was " no doubt the Etowah," although to reach the first named river from the 

 Etowah it would be necessary -to make another sharp turn to the north. From the 

 same coincidence Pickett puts it on the Conasauga, "in the modern county of Mur- 

 ray, Georgia," w-hile Jones, on the same theory, locates it "at or near the junction 

 of the Connasauga and Coosawattee rivers, in originally Cass, now (iordon county." 

 Here his modern geography as well as his ancient is at fault, as the original Cass 

 county is now Bartow, the name having been changed in consequence of a local dis- 

 like for General Cass. The whole theory of a march down the Coosa river re.«ts 

 upon this coinci<lence of the name. The same name however, pronounced (lanxiVcjl 

 by the Cherokee, was applied by them to at least three different locations within 

 their old territory, while the one mentioned in the narrative would make the fourth. 

 The others were (1) on Oostanaula river, opposite the mouth of the Conasauga, where 

 afterward was Xew Echota, in (iordon county, (ieorgia: (2) on Cana.sauga creek, in 

 McMinn county, Tennessee; (?>) on Tuckasegee river, about two miles above Web- 

 ster, in .lackson county. North Carolina. At each of these places are remains of 

 ancient settlement. It is possible that the name of Kenesaw mountain, near .Mari- 

 etta, in Cobb county, Georgia, may be a corruption of (iftnsagi, and if so, the Canasagua 

 of the narrative may have been somewhere in this vicinity on the Chattahoochee. 

 The meaning of the name is lost. 



On leaving Cana.sagua they continued down the same river which they had fol- 

 lowed from (iuaxule (Garcila.so), and after traveling several days through an unin- 

 habited ("despoblado") country (Elvas) arrived at Chiaha. which was subject to the 

 gi'eat chief of Coi,'a (Elvas). The name is si«3lled Chiaha by Kanjel and the Gentle- 



